The origin of the Usher of the Black Rod goes back to early fourteenth century England . Today, with no royal duties to perform, the Usher knocks on the doors of the House of Commons with the Black Rod at the start of Parliament to summon the members. The rod is a symbol for the authority of debate in the upper house.
We of The Black Rod have adopted the symbol to knock some sense and the right questions into the heads of Legislators, pundits, and other opinion makers.

About Me

We are citizen journalists in Winnipeg. When not breaking exclusive stories, we analyze news coverage by the mainstream media and highlight bias, ignorance, incompetence, flawed logic, missed angles and, where warranted, good work. We serve as the only overall news monitors in the province of Manitoba. We do the same with politicians (who require even more monitoring.) EMAIL: black_rod_usher@yahoo.com

Monday, December 01, 2008

You say you want a revolution...

In 1992 Canadians witnessed a revolution.

It was a stereotypical Canadian revolution. No blood was spilled. Heck, there was hardly any harsh language. Canadians simply went to the polls and voted. But it was a revolution nonetheless, unlike anything seen in the country in living memory.

Canadians did something totally out of character in October, 1992. They voted against the ruling elites.

Canadians en masse voted NO. No to the Charlottetown Accord which had been endorsed by every federal politician, every provincial politician, every local politician, every editorial board, every pundit in the country. NO. Plain and simple. NO in British Columbia. NO in Alberta, NO in Saskatchewan, NO in Manitoba, NO in Quebec and NO in Nova Scotia. In Ontario the Yes vote claimed victory in a virtual tie. Only 5 percent of the electorate--in Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island--- voted with the elites.

And when the next federal election came around, the public punished the prime backers of the accord as never before. Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservative's (minus Mulroney who, like a rat deserting a sinking ship, slunk off and left someone else to take the hit) were reduced to two seats in Parliament. It was all so politely Canadian.

But nobody in 1992 ever imagined in their wildest dreams that they would witness what's happening 16 years later--Canada's first coup d'etat.

Nobody ever thought they would live to see the overthrow of an elected government in Canada...that we would see Canada turned into a banana republic.

But then nobody could imagine the power lust of the Liberal Party of Canada and the federal NDP under Jack Layton.

The parties that lost the federal election of October, 2008, are planning a political coup to seize power from the party elected by voters to be the government.

Never in the history of the country could we have imagined that political parties defeated at the polls would contemplate invalidating the votes of 5 million Canadians. But they're doing it, with relish.

One month ago Canadians delivered their verdict on the Liberal Party of Canada.

The Liberals were reduced to the lowest popular vote in 40 years.

For all the chest-beating about the low voter turnout, the facts show that the vast majority of people who stayed away from the polls were Liberal Party voters who couldn't stomach Stephane Dion.

The Liberal Party said they heard the message and manoeuvred Dion out.Today they are spitting in the face of the electorate and planning to make Dion the Prime Minister regardless of the will of the voters.

The NDP, for all their bluster about becoming the Official Opposition, finished fourth ---again. They know they will never be elected as a government, and its obvious they will never even come close. The public doesn't want them anywhere near the reins.

Today they're laughing at the voters.

The coup d'etat will tear this country to pieces in ways unimagined by the worse scenarios of 1992.

This is a political coup fashioned in Toronto.

The Liberal Party doesn't care that the public has rejected it as a governing party. They are entitled to power, they believe, and they will take it. It's the public that's deluded, they say. Their prime message, a gigantic tax increase on everything was correct; it was the public that didn't understand it; and it's the Liberal Party that has to impose it on the ignorant people. For their own good.

The Conservatives won 51 seats in Ontario, the Liberals 38 and the NDP 17. But 32 of the 38 Liberal MPs come from the Greater Toronto region, as do another two NDP seats.

Regardless of the seats won and lost in the province, the Liberals and NDP declare they should rule the country on the basis of their control of Toronto.

The Liberals and their allies are fully prepared to sacrifice their seats on the Prairies, and British Columbia if need be, if that means they keep power in their own hands.

What are they sacrificing? The Liberals have one seat in Manitoba, one seat in Saskatchewan, and one seat in Alberta. If they never elect another MP in any of those three provinces, they don't care.

The NDP are willing to sacrifice their 4 Manitoba seats to taste the power they will never see in their lives otherwise. Their power lust is so great they are rushing to make common cause with the Separatists who want to destroy Canada. In any coalition, the Separatists will be able to blackmail the "government" until its too late.

The implications are gutwrenching.

The old-line parties are prepared to abandon half the country if they can concentrate power in Ontario and Quebec, just like it used to be in their Golden Era. They are prepared to tell half of Canada that their votes don't matter, that they will never elect a government of Canada, and they had better get used to being ruled from the East.

Uh uh. Until now, Alberta Separatism was a joke. Until now…

The Liberals and NDP are making an alliance with the Quebec Separatists, to fund them, to promote them in Quebec, and to ensure they have the goodies they want to go back and win more seats. That's the message the East is sending the West. Separatism is all right as long as it's our separatists. But once they announce that they intend to make the west into a colony for all times, then they will see the inevitable evolution of a Western Separatism they cannot imagine.

Ignore the pundits who are giddy with talk of precedents of the fall of minority governments. This isn't a matter of the fall of a minority government. This isn't a case of a minority government that's been in power for a year or two and has lost a confidence vote. This is a government that just won the biggest confidence vote in the country---a federal election.

For Michaelle Jean to overthrow that government a month after the vote, and replace it with an unelected government is a criminal act.

It will result in the end of the Monarchy in Canada.

Canadians have been waiting for the passing of Queen Elizabeth to see the monarchy in Canada end honorably on a natural note. Instead, if a Governor General installed by the Liberal Party agrees to replace a government elected by the people with an unelected Liberal government, the legitimacy of her post will be forever tainted.

Never again will a Governor General be appointed without an election. That is, if there is a country left to elect one.

Selected, not elected used to be a taunt of derision. Now the Opposition parties hold it dear.

In 1992 the people were given the opportunity to stand up to the elites of the country and they did. Overwhelmingly. They voted NO.

The political elites learned their lesson.

This time they will not give the public that opportunity.

How does a country say NO to a coup d'etat? History offers many examples. And until today, none of them was Canadian.